Classes in the Law and Business Program are taught by faculty members renowned in their respective fields—business law, finance, bankruptcy, mergers and acquisitions, entrepreneurship, and more. Here are just a few of the distinguished professors you may meet.
Practicing Attorneys and Judges
Sam Bartholomew, Jr.
Founder & Chairman, Stokes Bartholomew Evans & Petree
Sam Bartholomew’s areas of practice include aviation, corporate law and securities regulations, economic development, venture capital, government relations, administrative law, and health care. Professor Bartholomew has served on several corporate boards, including SunTrust Bank of TN, Corrections Corporation of America, and Regions Bank Corporation.
James H. Cheek, III
Partner, Bass, Berry & Sims
A graduate of Vanderbilt and Harvard Law Schools, Jim Cheek was selected by the National Law Journal as one of the top fifty U.S. securities lawyers. He has chaired the legal advisory boards for both the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD. Professor Cheek is the author of numerous articles and a frequent lecturer at ALI-ABA and PLI sponsored symposia and institutes.
Randy J. Holland
Justice, Delaware Supreme Court
The Honorable Randy J. Holland is one of five judges who are the final authority for much of American corporate law. Prior to his appointment and confirmation in 1986, Justice Holland was in private practice as a partner at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell. In January 1999 he was reappointed and confirmed unanimously for a second twelve-year term with the Court.
Leo E. Strine, Jr.
Vice Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery
The Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr. has written numerous opinions, particularly in the area of corporate matters. Before becoming Vice Chancellor of the Court of Chancery in 1998, he was Counsel to Governor Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, providing counsel to the governor and having responsibility for overall policy coordination. Before 1993, Vice Chancellor Strine was a corporate litigator at the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Vanderbilt Law Professors
Margaret M. Blair
Professor of Law
An economist who has been the Research Director for the Sloan-GULC Project on Business Institutions at Georgetown University, Margaret Blair joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2004. A former Fellow at the Brookings Institute, Professor Blair’s current research focuses on the legal structure of business organizations, on trust as a mechanism of governance in business firms, on human capital, and on the growing importance of intangible factors.
Robert K. Rasmussen
Milton Underwood Chair in Law
FedEx Research Professor of Law
Director, Joe C. Davis Law and Economics Program
Robert K. Rasmussen joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1989 and is a leading scholar in the field of bankruptcy. His work generally examines the interaction of market forces and corporate reorganization law. His recent work examines fundamental changes in corporate reorganization practice. Professor Rasmussen has taught a number of courses in the commercial law area and has been awarded the Hartman Award for outstanding teaching four times.
Herwig J. Schlunk
Professor of Law
Herwig Schlunk joined the Vanderbilt law faculty in 1999. He is presently teaching courses in federal tax, corporate tax, and finance. Professor Schlunk’s research focuses on attempts to replace the often arbitrary lines drawn in corporate tax with lines that are theoretically sound and thus less susceptible to manipulation. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, Professor Schlunk clerked for Judge Richard A. Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and spent several years in private practice as a partner in the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. He also worked as Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Koch Industries, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas.
Randall S. Thomas
John S. Beasley II Professor of Law and Business
Randall Thomas joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2000, having served previously in teaching positions at the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, Duke University, Boston University, and the University of Washington. Prior to teaching, Professor Thomas was in private practice for four years and clerked for U.S. District Judge Charles Joiner of the Eastern District of Michigan. In his fourteen years of teaching, Professor Thomas has earned a reputation of being a productive and thoughtful corporate and securities law scholar, appreciated by his peers and students alike.
Robert B. Thompson
New York Alumni Chancellor Professor of Law
One of the nation’s top scholars in corporate law, corporate finance, and securities regulation, Robert Thompson joined the law faculty in 2000 from Washington University School of Law, where he was George Alexander Madill Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. Professor Thompson has testified before committees of Congress, a state legislature, and the New York Stock Exchange.
Vanderbilt Business Professors
William G. Christie
Frances Hampton Currey Professor of Management
Professor of Law; Faculty Director, Executive MBA
By studying the operations of the major financial markets in the mid-1990s, Bill Christie, along with Professor Paul Schultz, concluded that NASDAQ market-makers were implicitly colluding to maintain artificially high trading profits at the expense of investors. His research subsequently resulted in a sweeping reform of the NASDAQ market and the introduction of the SEC Order Handling Rules. With Owen since 1989, Professor Christie was recognized with a dual appointment as a Professor of Law in 2004.
Mark Cohen
Justin Potter Professor of American Competitive Enterprise
Co-Director, Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Studies
A leading expert on enforcing environmental regulations and on corporate crime and punishment, Professor Cohen has published over 75 articles and books on such diverse topics as the effect of community “right to know” laws on firm behavior; why firms reduce toxic chemical emissions; cost-benefit analysis of oil spill regulation and enforcement; how the financial markets value corporate environmental policies and performance; and government enforcement policy and judicial sentencing of individuals and firms convicted of environmental crimes.
Karl Hackenbrack
Associate Professor of Management; Faculty Director, Master of Accountancy Program (MAcc)
Karl Hackenbrack joined the Owen faculty in 2004 from the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida, where he was a PricewaterhouseCoopers Fellow and received numerous teaching awards. His writings and teachings address corporate governance issues associated with external financial reporting, including fraudulent financial reporting, the structure of accounting standards, the public accounting industry, corporate valuation, and the regulation of professional services.
Bruce Lynskey
Clinical Professor of Management
With more than 15 years’ experience in the high technology field, Bruce Lynskey offers extensive, first-hand knowledge of the art and science of entrepreneurship. Each year, Professor Lynskey supervises more than 50 student-staffed, strategy analysis projects hosted by large and small businesses throughout the country.
Ronald W. Masulis
Frank K. Houston Professor of Management
Professor Masulis’s expertise is in corporate finance, investment banking, international finance, market microstructure and financial institutions. Before joining the Owen faculty in 1990, he taught at Southern Methodist University and the UCLA/Anderson Graduate School of Management. He has also worked as an economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation.
